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Vol. 6(2) pp. 16-24, August 2014

DOI: 10.5897/J PAPR2011.050Article Number: 7EFD2D046789ISSN 2141-2480Copyright 2014

Author(s) retain the c opyright of this articlehttp:/ /www.academicjournals.org/ J PAPR

Journal of Public Adminis tration and PolicyResearch

Full Length Research Paper

Planning and Managing of Development Projects inBangladesh: Future Challenges for Government and

Private Organizations

Mohammad Hamiduzzaman

Department of Public Administration, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh.

Received 12 August, 2011; Accepted 20February, 2012

This paper aims to study planning and managing process of development projects in Bangladesh. Itunravels the institutional inadequacies and challenges in planning and managing procedure. Thedeductive nature of the study has been conducted through explanatory research design. The key to atriumphant project is planning. Creating a project plan is the first thing that ought to do when embarkedon any kind of project. The project intention in Bangladesh is to build up the competence of diversesector organizations to accomplish their different functions. Different public organizations arecontinually seeking ways to make projects successfully implemented effectively and efficiently.Successful implementation of project is vital for socio-economic development of the developingcountries like Bangladesh. Furthermore, from project planning to implementation, Bangladesh, as adeveloping country, faces very serious problems. The study may facilitate the Government, different

public organization, the political leaders, civil society, private organization, donor agencies etc.regarding future policy issues in planning and managing development projects.

Key words: Planning and managing procedures, development projects, future challenges, government andprivate organizations.

INTRODUCTION

The planning and managing development projects havebeen considered as one of the foremost dilemmas indeveloping countries like Bangladesh. Bangladesh is nowsuffering from serious objections in implementation ofdeveloping projects claimed by World Bank, International

Monetary fund and other development partners.The government of Bangladesh has taken different

measures as desired by the development partners toregain her dignity in project implementation. The entireresponsibility of taking and implementing developmentprojects lies on the shoulder of Ministry of Planning whichhas a rhetoric history of emergence. In July 1953,

Planning Board was established in East Pakistan forFive Years.

In April 1957, according to the idea of the U.S.Aconsultant Barnard L. Gadieux, this board was givenpriority and it was recognized as Planning Commission

(Hasan and Hossien, 1999). In the mid 1950s, aprovincial planning board was established under theunited front government of the then East Pakistan (Hasanand Hossien, 1999).

The planning commission was established in Bangla-desh on January 1972 after a blooded independenceThroughout the independence, several five year develop

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Author agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commo

Attribution License 4.0 International License

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ment plans have been commenced in developmentsector of Bangladesh (MoP, 2010). These are: Half yearplan January 1972 to June 1972; One year plan July1972 to June 1973; First five year plan July 1973 to June1978; Two years plan July 1978 to June 1980; Secondfive year plan (SFYP) (1980 to 1985); Third five year plan

(TFYP) (1985 to 1990), Fourth five year plan (1990 to1995); Fifth five year plan (1997 to 2002); and Sixth fiveyear plan (2011 to 2016).

The National strategy for accelerated poverty reduction(NSAPR-I) was launched in 2005. The NSAPR-II titled asthe Steps Towards Change (FY 2009 to 2011) wasadopted by the present government through a process ofendorsement in the Parliament (MoP, 2010). It reflectedthe vision 2021 of the Government to become a midlevel income country by the year 2021- the 50

th year of

National independence.The Ministry of Planning used to communicate mana-

gement systems and procedures throughout the project.As it has been said Time spent planning is neverwasted. As an indispensable element of project manage-ment, project planning entails the enlargement of actionitems and setting up that will continue the project movingforward on an unfailing root.

Bangladesh embarked upon planning for social andeconomic development immediately after independencewithin the framework of what the political leadershipchose to call socialism and democracy. The foremostpurpose of planning is that, it trims down the uncertaintythat stays alive prior to a project is start taking place.

The scheme of project arrives from social problem andindividual crisis turns into social crisis (Cleland, 1999).Being a developing country, it has been getting foreign

direct investments and donation or even loan frominternational organization, development partners likeJapan, USA, UKetc and the rate has been increasing dayby day.

Development projects in Bangladesh squeezes actionsof purchasing, hiring of commodities, mechanism orservices by any contractual means. Different governmentagencies or procurement entities, especially the mini-stries, divisions, departments/directorates, and otherautonomous/semi-autonomous bodies or corporationsoften acquire/purchase goods, services or works havebeen involved in the process.

Corruption and poor governance are impeding Bangla-

desh's efforts to decrease its enormous scarcity byreducing monetary growth and lowering the triumph ofsocio-economic objectives. They destroy citizens' faith intheir government and discourage the foreign and house-hold investment, which desires so badly. And they desta-bilize the knack of Bangladesh's development partners toprolong their support. A proactive route map is placed oncard for accelerated effort in development managementduring last two consecutive democratic decades.

The revitalization of the Executive Committee of theNational Economic Council (ECNEC) with a meeting

Hamiduzzaman 17

scheduled every week reflects the urgency of thegovernments in bringing about a change in developmenadministration. The objective of the study is to diagnosethe existing scenario and future policy agenda of ProjecPlanning Process in Bangladesh. For this end in the viewsome specific objectives were fixed to perform:

1. To identify the key indicators and institutional barriersaffecting the planning and managing developmenprojects.2. To unveil the institutional framework of project planningprocess.3. To summarize the obstacles and propose strategies fosuccessful implementation of development projects.

RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Bangladesh, as a symbol of least developing states, hasinheritably been alienated with friendly foreign policy and

holds geographical importance. It is a unitary self-governing republic. The president is head of the stateThe legislature is replica of the British parliamentarysystem. Depending on the funds / or donations from herdevelopment partners, she is on the way of developmento reach desired goals.

In doing so, the government has focused on planningand managing development projects which may facilitatethe people of the country as soon as possible. This studyis significant for the general people as well as politiciansbureaucrats, educationists, donors, nongovernmentaorganization (NGOs), and civil society.

Various factors are responsible for a corrupted mode ofgovernment (that is, traditional bureaucrats, unskilled

professionals, centralized authority and power, lack ofinancial resources). A lot of research works on projecmanagement have been conducted in Bangladesh oneither national or local level.

Unfortunately, no significant research isfound regardingthe challenges of planning and managing developmenprojects in Bangladesh. It is also be momentous becauseit will also meet the academic demands as well as greaterbenefit of the society. It will attract policy makers, donorsNGOs, and civil society as well.

The issue of implementing development projects hasreceived greater attention around the developingsocieties. Different countries have already adopted new

laws and make regulations to conduct fair procurementand make these transparent and accountable duringimplementation phase of projects and some countrieshave in the pipe-line.

The study would be a reliable one for the governmentas well as bureaucrats, academicians, civil society etcfor making further research or other movements. It isrelevant with the present status of planning and imple-menting development projects all over the world. In anage of globalization the study will open up a new door forall concerned to think about the matter. In addition

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18 J. Public Adm. Policy Res.

conducting such a research in this specific area was bothchallenging and interesting, too.

DATA AND MATERIALS

The study has used the content analysis method ingetting appropriate findings and in doing so, explanatory-descriptive research design was followed. It examinedthe affects of corruption at project planning and imple-mentation phase and tried to find out the responsibilitiesof concern authorities in this regard.

Deductive method, theoretical approach used in socialscience study, was followed to get realistic findings whichresultant from secondary data. The secondary sources ofdata was comprised the relevant documents and public-cations of government agencies, Ministries, web portals,different NGOs, Archive, library, education and researchinstitutions and internet browsing has continuously done.The study was intended to represent the comprehensiblepicture of planning and implementing phases ofdevelopment projects and duties of relevant authorities.

INSTRUMENTS AND MECHANISMS OF PROJECTPLANNING PROCESS

National planning of a country is an endeavor to reachthe socio-economic goal of a country. There are somecompulsory tactics to invent and put into operation of theplan. In Bangladesh at first the project planning is ap-proved in National parliament, and then it is sent toNational Economic Council (NEC). NEC finalizes and

approves the plan and then it is launched to ECNEC forultimate approving.

From ECNEC, the plan goes to Ministry of Planningwhich helps to formulation and implementation of policiesand also reviews the impact on the economy. Ministry ofPlanning has four Divisions namely, Economic RelationsDivision (ERD), Planning Commission, ImplementationMonitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), StatisticalDivision and Bangladesh Institute of DevelopmentStudies (BIDS) is under Statistical Division.

National parliament

Although directions of planning in Bangladesh came fromdifferent political parties but through National parliament itis included in state framework. Planning data comes inparliament from different sources. The sources areincluding Election Manifesto, Statistical Division, Local

Administration, Media etc. Each Government providescommitments of development activities to the peoplebefore election.

After election, this manifesto becomes the source ofdifferent project planning. Statistical Division conducts

survey to know various problems. Besides, LocaAdministration is an important source of information oproblems of grassroots level. Local Administration isincluding Local Government and Local Self GovernmentLocal Government level employees are Governmennominated and Public Representatives are in Local Sel

Government Units. They provide information on locaproblems and of local people. They provide reports toPlanning Commission. Besides, other sources includingResearch organizations, Research reports, TransparencyInternational Bangladesh, Bangladesh Institute oDevelopment Studies (BIDS) etc.

Composition of National Parliament is includingSpeakeas Head of Parliament. Prime Minister is Head of Parlia-mentary functions. The National Parliament is composedof 345 Members; among them 45 are auxiliary Members(Reserved for Women). Parliament shall appoint fromamong its members the following standing committees(a) a public accounts committee; (b) a committee forprivileges; and c) such other standing committees as therules of procedure of parliament require (GoB, 2009).

National Parliament is highest planning determiningauthority in Bangladesh. It determines the policy ofGovernment and provides directions to planning in thecountry.

National economic council

The National economic council (NEC) is the apex autho-ritative body of the nation and premier political authorityto make plan (MoP, 2010). Prime Minister is the mainauthorized person of this council and Members are

Ministries of the council of ministers (MoP, 2010). Othesupporting Officials are including cabinet secretaryGovernor of Bangladesh Bank, all members of PlanningCommission and Secretary of Concerned ministry oDivision.

NEC provides overall supervision at the stage of Fiveyear plans, annual development programmes and econo-mic policies. It finalizes and approves plans, programmesand policies. It also reviews of how the developmentprojects are implementing properly. It can take differentdecisions or dealings that may be considered necessaryfor socio-economic development of country. It getsauthority to appoint committees as deemed fit to support

the NEC in due expulsion of its responsibilities. NECarranges meetings in every month and this meeting canbe held earlier if required. NEC also gets clerical servicefrom Planning Division.

Executive committee of the national economiccouncil (ECNEC)

ECNEC is the supervisory agency for implementation ofthe policies decided by National Economic Council

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(NEC). It is the uppermost level in the nation, whichapproves the individual project and is the definitiveapproving authority. It has authority to review the projectsthat are reported by Implementation, Monitoring andEvaluation Division (IMED). Work art of the councilcommittee is composed of prime Ministers and ministers

of different Ministries and they are foremost managerialmembers of the Committee (MoP, 2010). Besides, thereis other underneath Officials to support the managerialbody.

The superior level members are including PrimeMinister who is the head of the Committee and substituteChairman is Minister, Ministry of Finance. Other mem-bers are Ministers of different ministries including,Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry ofLabor and Employment, Ministry of Water Resources,Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Communication,Ministry of Shipping, and Minister or State Minister of theConcerned Ministry. Along with managerial body, thereare also other supporting officials for providing all timesupport to superior members. They are including Secre-taries of different divisions and members of planningcommission.

The supporting officials areincluding Cabinet Secretary,Principal Secretary or secretary of Prime Ministers Officeand other secretaries of Economic Relations Division,Finance Division, Planning Division, Implementation,Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) and Secretaryof Concerned Ministry or Division. Along with them othermembers are as well as Members of General EconomicsDivision of Planning Commission and Programming ofPlanning Commission.

As the ECNEC is the topmost level in the nation for

approving the projects, it does also many importantfunctions for project development. For all investmentprojects ECNEC deems and grant Project ConceptPapers and also Public Sector Projects having invest-ment expenses of above 25 cores with proposal ofProject Evaluation Committees (PEC) meeting (MoP,2010).

IMED provides progress report of development projectimplementation to ECNEC for evaluation. It is authorizedto regard as the plans for investment companies asprivate or joint ventures or with overseas participation.ECNEC scrutinizes the economic situations and appraiseoverall act of the economy and related strategy issues.

Financial outcome or performance of statutory corpo-rations is also considered by ECNEC. It judges rates, billsand costs of civic usefulness services or manufacturedgoods of Public Enterprises.

ECNEC get a hold power to regard as and supportyearly target of foreign aid, expansion of buy and sell, sellto other countries of manpower as well as to appraise theadvancement of the annually intentions.

ECNEC organizes meeting as and when necessary.Planning commission makes available services to thisCommittee.

Hamiduzzaman 19

Ministry of Planning

Ministry of Planning plays an imperative role in planningand development related policy making practicePlanning Minister is chief of the Ministry. PlanningMinistry is composed of Planning Division, Economic

Relations Division, Planning Commission, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED)and Statistical Division.

Planning Division

The Planning Commission is headed by a Secretary tothe Government. There are three wings under PlanningDivision namely, Administrative Wing is headed by JointS4ecretary, ECNEC Wing is chaired by Joint Chief andStatistics Wing is directed by Joint Secretary (MoP2010). For economic and social development PlanningDivision prepares National plus-annual, mid-term deve-

lopment plan, three year systematic plan and perceptionplan.

Within the framework of National Plan this division pre-pares annual development programmes and originatespolicies for the accomplishment and impact of thefinancial system. It sporadic assesses national develop-ment plan and foundation of the prepared performance ofthe diverse segments of the economy. It continuouslywatches the steps forward of plan achievement andappraise the arrangement.

Planning Division carries out revise on main economicissues and develops essential economic procedures andmeasures. It weighs up of exterior liability and on the

basis of it presents the statements.In order to get successful planning and growth PlanningDivision undertakes and promotes economic investigationinspection and inquiry. It provides services of assessmenof project formulation delivers guidance on programs andprojects. It reviews whether the project can achieve theexpected improvement and if not, identifies the com-plexities and suggests clarifications. It makes coordination of interconnected and mutually dependenactivities of different Ministries or Divisions and theiagencies and also bringing together the economicpolicies which are concerned with more than one Ministryor Division. It deals with all matters relating to statisticsincluding endorsement, upgrading and harmonization ofstatistics and abolition of doubling-up endeavors withinstatistical ground. It performs cyclic investigations onpopulation, cultivation, domestic animals, industries andset up statistics pool. It makes available services for theNational Statistical Council and Standing Committees onNational Income Commission etc.

Economic relations div ision (ERD)

ERD drums up the outer resources for socio-economic

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development of the country. The main focus of the ERDis to manage, plan marshal and settle on allotment ofexternal assistance in relation to the countrys develop-ment programme priorities.

Secretary is Chairperson of ERD and other membersare including Additional Secretary and 5 Joint Secre-

taries. Secretary reports to the Ministry of Planning ofBangladesh. Additional Secretary is billed a part ofbusiness. Joint Secretaries are in charge designed forWings of ERD and account unswervingly to the Secretaryof ERD. The Economic Ministers and economic Coun-cilors posted in some important countries also reports toERD Secretary (Chadha, 1989).

According to the allocation of business among thedifferent ministries and Divisions (Schedule 1 of theRules of Business, 1996) the functions of ERD areincluding to implement the development projects under

Annual development Plan and Five Year Plan. ERD isauthorized to review, rally, consult and deal out all many-sided and two-sided economic aid. For provision anddetection of sources it checks and pores over scheme offoreign aid usual from the Ministries or Divisions. Inrelation to food and commodity assistance frommultilateral and bilateral sources ERD activates, confersand deals out the external aid.

To approve of all procedural supporting agendas, ERDmatches up and practices them. Matters that are relatingto Bangladeshi national specialists and advisors insupported projects, ERD pacts with these policies andharmonizes them. It furthermore compacts with the docu-ments and formulas meant for selection of expatriatementors and methodological assistance professionals. Itprovides directions and dealings of how to tender the

finance provided under external help and in additionraises dexterity, appraise, and screening of the use ofoverseas aid. ERD works with International Development

Agencies like: World bank/IDA and IFC, Asian Develop-ment Bank (ADB), United Nations Development Program(UNDP), Islamic Development Bank (IDB) etc.

Planning commission

By means of the planned development for the country,the Bangladesh Planning Commission was established inJanuary 1972 (Chowdhury, 1988). One of the first

decisions the Bangladesh Government made after recur-ring from exile was to set up the Planning Commissionand to assign the Deputy Chairperson and members ofthe Commission in 31 January, 1972. The cabinetdecision in establishing the Planning Commission laiddown ten functions for Planning Commission. The PrimeMinister is the Chairman of Planning commission.

The Minister of Planning is the Vice-Chairman of theCommission. By the side of the policy level, the Com-mission consists of Vice Chairman and five members(Chowdhury, 1988). The member secretary of the

commission is the secretary of Planning Division.Under the members, there are six divisions which are

further sub-divided into thirty functional wings. Amongthem two divisions contracts by way of the setting up adguiding principle questions of the diverse segments of theeconomy. Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Economic

cadres are officials of Planning Commission governed byPlanning Commission.Divisions and Wings are headed by Joint Chiefs. Wings

are again subdivided into Branches and headed byDeputy Chiefs and Desks are operated by Senior assis-tant Chief or Assistant Chief of the Planning commission

As the innermost organization of the country, thePlanning commission gets ready of the short term planmid-term plan, long-term plan, annual development planfive year plan and perspective plans.

At policy level, it decides the targets, intentions, mainconcerns, tactics and policy measures for developmenplans. It makes out the role of different economic sectorsis mandatory to practice in the framework of the planintention. Planning commission invents faceted resourceallocation for programme planning. For implementation othe sectoral plans it judges investment resolutions ofscheme. Planning commission evaluates how the missionimplementation has an impact on peoples livingstandard. It has institutional relationship with NECECNEC, Finance Division, Economic Relations DivisionInternal Resources Division, Planning and Developmen

Academy, Bangladesh Institute of Development StudiesImplementation Monitoring and Evaluation DivisionDevelopment Ministries or Divisions and Statistics Wingor BBS.

Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division(IMED)

IMED is the inner and climax institution of the countryProject implementation bureau (PIB) was created in1975. It was renamed as implementation monitoring andevaluation division (IMED) in the early 1980s underMinistry of Planning (Majid, 2008). IMED is ordered into 8Sectors/Wing/Unit. They are headed by Chief JoinSecretary/Director Generals. They account to thesecretary.

The Secretary works under the supervision and orde

of the Advisor/Minister for Finance and Planning. TheseSectors/Wing/Unit are including agriculture, rural deve-lopment and research sector, industry and power sectorcommunication and local government sector, educationand social sector, co-ordination and MIS (managementinformation system) sector, evaluation sector, centraprocurement technical unit (CPTU) and administrationwing.

The Rules of Business of the Government allocated thefunctions of the IMED. They are including to scrutinize adassess the implementation of development projects

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included in the Annual development Programme (ADP).For information of the President, NEC, ECNEC

Ministries and other concerned, IMED accumulates andassemblage the project judicious data for preparingquarterly, yearly and monthly progress report. It providesdifferent advisory and consultancy services to Ministries/

Agencies which are relating to implementation of project.It conducts field inspections of project implementation foridentifying the problems and reports to the President andConcerned Ministers. It deals with different mattersrelated to central procurement unit (CPTU) and PublicProcurement Regulations (2003). Besides it also doessuch other functions that prime Minister assigns to theDivision from time to time. IMED plays a vital role inproject formulation to project implementation.

Statistical division

It is solitary of the four administrative divisions of Ministryof planning. For accurate plan formulating, supervisingand appraising of project, statistics or statistical data ismost imperative. By understanding the substance of data,in 1975 Statistical Division was established under theMinistry of Planning. Its head is the Minister of Ministry ofPlanning.

There are 6 offices under Bangladesh Bureau ofstatistics and National Statistical Office. They are theapplied administrative units of the statistical Division. Inorder to provide information on administrative andmanagement related matters there are total 36 Statisticaland semi-Statistical Centers at Ministry, Department,agencies and autonomous Bodies.

Each division is independent secretarial unit and headis director. Besides, the organizational structure of Ban-gladesh Bureau of statistics is speared over the Zilla, andUpazilla level.

In general, this division provides support to Bangladeshbureau of statistics at the ministry level and nationalstatistical council at national level (Chowdhury, 1988). Itputs forward the report of statistics on project to Ministryof Planning.

Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)

BIDS is a self-governing unrestricted multi-disciplinarypublic Research organization for conducting policyresearch taking place the development issues designedfor Bangladesh. The history of Bangladesh Institute ofDevelopment Studies (BIDS) can be traced back to thePakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE)which began in June 1957. Up to 1973, it retained thename Bangladesh Institute of Development Economics(BIDE). Afterward, a parliamentary charter was granted in1974 and the Institute was renamed as the BangladeshInstitute of Development Studies (BIDS). The institute

Hamiduzzaman 21

operates under the institutional control of the Ministry ofPlanning (Planning Division).

A Board of Trustees governs the BIDS where thePlanning Minister is Chairperson and Director General isthe Chief Executive of the Institute. There are three legacommittees for providing the supports to this institution

These committees are namely, The Policy CoordinationCommittee (PCC), The Administrative Affairs Committee(AAC) and The Finance Committee (FC).

In the field of development economics, BIDS carries ouand upholds study, investigation and diffusion of facts. Itprovides assistance in planning by accumulating infor-mation, carrying out inquiry and undertaking researchprojects. In order to accelerate the use of up to datetechnology in project, it supplies training amenities.

BIDS makes policy debates on key policy concerns tocivil society and other stakeholders and upholds comprehension, consideration and accord on policy schema. Itarranges practicum, discussion groups, and symposiumsto excite the interface with the research communitypolicy creators and civil society in order to split researchresults on the BIDS comprehension base.

Committee system in pro ject planning

There are a number of committees for project planning athe agency level, ministry level and national level. Theyare including Project Evaluation Committees (PEC) inPlanning Commission for examining Planning Proposalsand advocating them to the Minister-in-Charge oPlanning or the ECNEC for their sanction, DepartmentaProject Evaluation Committee (DPEC) at Ministry/Division

to deem A type projects guaranteed by itself or any of itsagencies, Special Project Evaluation Committee (SPEC)at Planning Commission to appraise the Technica

Assistance (TA) Projects and Departmental SpeciaProject Evaluation Committees (DSPEC) at MinistryDivision level to propose suitable.

CHALLENGES AHEAD TO PLANNING ANDMANAGING PROCESS

Following the independence of Bangladesh, corruption isnot a new-fangled incident in Bangladesh. Political and

administrative elites have often predestined the highincidence of corruption. It was believed that the return ofdemocracy during the 1990s, government has been ableto take effectual action to tackle the corruption to flourish.The World Bank estimates that 2 to 3% of GDP growth islost to corruption each year. Per capita income coulddouble if the government restrained corruption (Transparency International, 2009). The business communityhas been putting continues pressure on the governmentsthough they are largely benefited from it.

Unfortunately, maximum portion of the tax payers are

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common people, especially the poor, who have basicallyhad to pay for it. According to transparency international,Bangladesh has improved its ranking in the much-talkedabout Global corruption perception index, moving up tothe 13

thposition from the 10th in 2008, although political

and bureaucratic corruption is still believed to be rampant

(The New Age, 2009).The government formed a number of oversight regu-latory bodies to check corruption like the Anti-CorruptionCommission, but most of the bodies could not functioneffectively. The Public Procurement Regulation wasenacted, but the government plunged into corruptionflouting the regulation.

During the last few decades, corruption, terrorism andmismanagement in the public purchase are the commonscenario. Mistreatment of development projects inabsence of a uniform law contributed largely to thesituation. Although restricted tendering method or directprocurement method can be used for some specificreasons, procurement and contracts in Bangladesh oftentake place through open competitive biddings (Islam,1993).

Bangladesh, newly admitted democratic values, hasfailed to prepare code of conduct, ethics, and issues ofconflict of interest according to priority. Information ondirect and indirect corruption were retrieved fromdocuments accessible mainly on newspapers, electronicmedia, electronic databases, literature survey, on web-sites of specialized agencies, and analysis of the existingsituation in Bangladesh.

Various footprint reports of political involvement inwide-ranging corruption, political control and pressurefrom trade unions in the development activities are

already published. Occurrence of corruption involvingdonor agency are not uncommon at nationally or globallyand or other levels. The inefficiency and ineffective publicadministration is not accountable, somewhere, they aredirectly involved, which is an integral part of poor gover-nance.

Development partners of Bangladesh are suffering fromsuch corruption (belonging to the WB, UN peace keepingoperations, UNDP, UNICEF and other concerned agen-cies) whether or not in conspiracy with local counterpartsand concerned others. The Department of InstitutionalIntegrity (INT), an anti-fraud wing of the World Bank, hastraced that the members of a government are involved

into the fraudulent bids of the Roads and HighwaysDivision.

In addition, INT scrutinizes claims of corruption such asbid exploitation; bid collusion; coercive power practices;deceitful bids; contract performance etc. Identicalcorruption accuses were in pipe-line to be proved indifferent ministries-Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,Ministry of Communication, Ministry of Water manage-ment, Ministry of Social welfare etc.

The procurement process in development projects isfar from satisfactory level, due to the following problems:

politically motivated advertisement, a little bidding periodunderprivileged specifications, nondisclosure of selectioncriteria, award of contract by lottery, one-sided contractdocuments, negotiation with all bidders, rebidding withouadequate grounds, other miscellaneous irregularities, andcorruption and outside influence.

The contracts of development activities are particularlyknown for long delays in the award of contracts. Implementation monitoring evaluation division (IMED) compileddata on the elapsed number of days from bid invitation toaward in 148 procurement cases in FY98. The normatime allowed is 150 days. The review showed that theawards were made in 240 days or less in only 29% of thecontracts; another 28% were awarded within a year, andthe rest took 500 days or more (TIB, 2009). Procurementdelays increase costs, defer benefits, deter good firmsfrom bidding and are often indicative of corruptinterference (TIB, 2009).

Furthermore, conventional planning approach is usedtill now in planning process. Planning process is generallytop-down where people participation is restricted andplanners are often ignoring the sensible difficulties andclaim of people. Planners are very much interested inestablishing Super structure in urban areas withoutaking into account trouble situation of rural areas

Although people are the main target of developmenplanning but in plan formulation there active involvemenis not accessible.

At local level, planning people participation is not soaccelerated because of their unconsciousness and poweof local elite (Hasan and Hossien, 1999). Generallyurban based planning is given more importance thanrural planning. Planning commission is not so interested

to study the rural problems so there is still, urban pictureon planning paper. People only get the conveniences butnot in formulation stage. All programmes are bureau-cratically conceived, bureaucratically implemented andbureaucratically evaluated.

Project planning formulation is too much depended onforeign aid because of lack of our internal resource. Thekey part of revenue budget is received from import tax(33%) and this import is depended on foreign supportForeign aid depended planning cannot bring any optimistic impact in any country as through this aid the donorcountries receive their interest. Rough political circum-stance seriously hampers the successful implementation

of projects. There is no surety on continuity of the projecas it may be rejected by the next ruling GovernmentHence, the development policies cannot be implementedas it should be.

There is common problem in picking and implementingthe national and international development projects inBangladesh (Ahuja et al., 1994). Projects are taken fopublic that typically not serve up to them. There is strongcommitment of during formulation of development projecto improve the fate of ordinary people.

Nevertheless, the achievement of the projects can not

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be reached to those people. Proper implementation ofproject can be hampered for reforms in planning paper.

As a result there is wastage of time, resource and worth.In plan formulation generally, the needs of deprived

people is disregarded. For their development it isnecessary to bring reforms in land distribution, business,

and production and levy which will not serve the interestof affluent persons. So, the elite groups can obstruct thepoor based planning. Organizations in relation to projectplanning are not so efficient to execute the developmentplanning properly. Their administrative efficiency suffersmost from corruption, nepotism, technological problem,skilled staffs and too much formality.

Planning commission and other agencies have lesssovereignty power in relation to project formulation andimplementation.

ENDING REMARKS AND PROPOSED SUGGESTIONS

Strengthening a corruption free Bangladesh is nowdemand of the age and people. Bangladesh is now readyto set examples in areas of anticorruption movement indevelopment projects and other social corruption as well.The government has taken initiatives to reduce per unitcosts of products of development and capitalize on perunit quality and quantity of products at least for the sakeof hungry and poor people of Bangladesh.

Relaxation of prerequisite of the bidders in develop-ment activities and allowing single-stage two envelopscheme in submitting proposal and e-Lottery to choose acontractor will strain corruption. It's rational to expect fromthe law making authority to amend the law in such way,

which would not re-open the door of corruption.When the country is marching ahead for achieving

Digital Bangladesh, launch the scheme of submittingthe tender over is great thought. World Bank however,suggests that deregulation and growth of markets, publicdeals, legal and judicial reform and transparent manage-ment are important to reduce corruption even whengovernment plays a role in policy formulation.

This paper is an attempt to enlighten how the planningmachinery moves toward indeed. It is an effort to providethe information on how they function in relation to the restof the governmental machinery and decision makingprocess and difficulties from which the machineries suffer

most. Development planning and policies encompassesnot only the economic but also socio-political and admi-nistrative factors (Islam, 1993).

As a third world developing country, Bangladeshrequires to put into practice the development planning forsocio-economic development of the country. Publicoriented, practical and efficient planning is being obligedto reach at this expected aspiration. The plan formulationand implementation process should serve the interest ofcommon people not the elite group and donor countries.Project planning is national issue not the political. So

Hamiduzzaman 23

without reducing the politics of project planning no expec-ted target can be attained. Although it is complicated tosolve the troubles which are stated in Bangladesh, butappropriate efforts will make possible it. The ways tosolve the problems in planning in Bangladesh may bedividing into three types. The short-term measures, the

mid-term measures and the long-term steps. The govern-ment should consider this paper for its specific futurestrategies.

Short-term measures (From 2 to 6 months)

I. Ensure transparency and accountable commitmensystem and leadership process;II. Planning commission and other agencies shouldpractice the autonomy and identify the projects withoutconsidering the external pressure and influence obenefactor agencies;III. Action based project need to give priority; andIV. For the period of undertaking the planning it isimperative to make confirm of source of money, ratio onational and global resource so that the modification oplanning would not be required.

Mid-term measures (from 6 months to 2 years)

I. Ensuring participation of local people as well as thewomen;II. For increasing administrative efficiency, bureaucraticcomplexity, corruption, and nepotism have to be stronglydiminished;

III. Accountability, administrative reforms, training pro-grams, sufficient allocation of resources and publicawareness on planning are furthermore crucial for planformulation and completion; andIV. Our local Government bodies at village, union, Thanaand Zilla level should make delegate and self sufficient sothat they can carry out the hope of people. Identificationof local resources, demand, priorities can accelerate theplanning. Co-operative and social village, union andThana based development plan have to be building upand Thana level planning should be basis of Zilla leveplanning.

Long-term measures (continues)

I. Utilizing the internal resource and reducing thedependency on foreign aid;II. Besides, people should become conscious in savingsreducing the consumptions and encourage the smalinvestment to swell our internal resource;III. Planning, Implementation and Monitoring (IME)Department can be established at the Zilla and Thanalevel. There in addition can be set up Planning

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Commission; andIV. Political co-operation is key prerequisite of anydevelopment. There should have mutual co-operationbetween major political parties in development issues byconsidering people welfare.

Conflict of Interests

The author(s) have not declared any conflict of interests.

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Cleland DI (1999). Project Management: Strategic Design andImplementation. New York, San Francisco, Washington D. C.McGraw-Hill international Editionshttp://accessengineeringlibrary.com/browse/project-management-strategic-design-and-implementation-fifth-edition

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Citations

Hasan M, Hossien AM (1999). Parikalpana o Pranayan. DhakaGatidhara. pp. 91-124.

Majid MA (2008). Monitoring, Evaluation and Sustainability, Pally KarmaShahayak Foundation (PKSF).

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